1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing head employed in an electrophotographic apparatus to subject an electrophotographic film to various kinds of processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
One type of photographic apparatus has heretofore been know which is capable of recording an image on a predetermined frame of a photographic film. This type of apparatus is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,528,355, 3,697,173, 3,964,828, 3,972,610 and 4,461,561.
Also, a processing head is disposed in such photographic apparatus to subject an electrophotographic film to various kinds of processing such as charging/exposure, development and drying and such processing head is known from the specifications of U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,291 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 696,590 filed Jan. 31, 1985.
The processing head disclosed in the above-described specifications has a charging exposure section, a developing section, a drying section and a fixing section, which are disposed in that order and adjacent one to another along the direction in which the electrophotographic film is advanced. The pitch at which these sections are disposed is set such as to be constant and equal to the frame pitch of the film.
In the charging exposure section, a portion of the electrophotographic film (corresponding to one frame) which is positioned at this section is first charged and then irradiated with light which is reflected from a document, and the image of the document is thereby formed on the film to effect light exposure. Thus, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image pattern on the document is formed on the film. In the developing section, the electrophotographic film exposed in the charging exposure section is coated with a liquid developer, and the electrostatic latent image is thereby developed. In the drying section, drying air is blown against the electrophotographic film which has been wetted with the liquid developer so as to remove hygroscopic moisture therefrom. In the fixing section, the developed image is fixed on the electrophotographic film by means, for example, of a fixing lamp.
In the developing section, after the liquid developer has been applied to the electrophotographic film, any surplus developer attached to the film is blown off. This is done because, if the surplus developer is not sufficiently removed in the developing section, when the electrophotographic film is advanced to the drying section, the remaining surplus developer may be compressed between the film and the wall surface of the drying section which faces the film and spread to adhere to an adjacent frame of the film, thus causing the image in the frame to be spoiled or damaged.
When dust or the like is attached to the developed surface of an electrophotographic film, the above-described operation of blowing the developer off the film may not be sufficiently effected, and this may give rise to the above-described problem.